Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening Gala

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

As one of my colleagues would say of the fireman of the 8F, head down, backside up! One heck of a fine performance, and good job it was a damp night...

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

I was on the footplate of the 8f and i think the biggest headache Chris had was digging into the back of the bunker as the coal was empty at the front we did our best to keep him topped when we had a chance
We were blessed with a very free steaming engine that responded well to working hard making the firemans job a lot easier

 

Re: Moorlands and City Railway

What do people want for £25.?
Good value for a day out and MCR and CVR provided it.
Some people want the show all to themselves.
Lets ride the line as cheap as we can, then go and take our photos and put nothing else in the pot.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Well done young Chris, looks like he was firing continuously towards the top of the climb - doubt the those doors were open to keep the smoke down! Bet he didn't look as well scrubbed then as he did earlier in the waiting room at Froghall.

 

Re: Moorlands and City Railway

To those who have an intellectual block on financial and leisure reality for a family :-

Not everyone is coming on their own, or simply for a visit to the railway during their day. Some people are coming as a family party, all adults, or adults and children. So its somewhere between £70 and £100 for them simply to patronise the railway, let alone the cafe, or the shop. That market only wants one round trip. Please understand - the customer base is NOT exclusively enthusiast based.

That is not value for money to them and they turn away. That is not just revenue lost on the day, it is goodwill and reputation too

Every heritage business concedes that its major customer base is the non enthusiast public - so to price all eight days at a "Full Rover or nothing" price just does not make commercial sense.

Weekend one - Premium Fare £25 fair enough. I have already conceded that, but I am firmly convinced that blind adherence to that formula for the remainder of the event will be financial suicide as the re-opening is behind us, especially on weekdays. Better to take £50 for a family of four for one trip - four times over - than to overprice by solely offering a fare of £70 for an all day ticket, seeing those seats as sold all day for that price, and see no revenue as they walk away. Think of it as a restaurant selling its tables several times a day rather than once to re-inforce the argument. Would you rather have £70 from your day's trading per table, or up to £240??

If the financial reality of that suggestion is not immediately apparent then I can say no more - its the overall take that matters, and market sensitivity is how to maximise it. £25 is an appropriate fare for all day rovering - it is not for one round trip

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1AHbyGZ3QQ

7m50s :-O

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

I'm glad that someone caught it lineside! Without doubt the best driving turn that me and Steve have ever done!

Regards

Chris

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Thanks for all the wonderful vids from England's new loudest steam railway. Lil bear's final view of 8624 spitting sparks had me cheering 'em on, though someone at MCR will need to come up with a defence strategy for dry summer weekends, I think.

Wish list for next year, 34067 or 34070 to show that Spam can, and 70013 banked by 70000, with Britannia cutting off before Ipstone summit to see if Ollie even notices.

But let's face it, owners of any half-decent loco must be itching to be invited now, and the public will get a great show from whatever turns up.

And to think this is only the start, with MCR intending to continue the cracking pace of progress they've set. I do hope that negotiations with the stone companies go smoothly as well as the link to Stoke, so that their revenue stream is secured. The locals must be delighted at the prospect of losing many of those HGVs, and the people at Leek and even Alton Towers ought to be getting interested by now

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Second only to one not very far away :lol:.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

FF = fortissimo??

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Anything that helps to reduce the road traffic in the area heading for Alton Towers must be a good thing. I hope that a rail link to the park does turn out to be feasible as surely rail excursions would find a ready market at 500 a pop.

Even a park and ride link from a suitable railhead would be better than exists now, and bring useful revenue to, and public recognition of, CVR/MCR

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

"Aha, you'll be who I talked to on the phone last night!"
Yeah... That makes you Will from North Norfolk who is at uni in portsmouth.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

I think that the only people who don't think they need a rail link might be Alton Towers themselves, who seem to do very nicely thank you as it is. But for the people in Stoke and places within, say, 45 minutes by rail from there, (and that's a lot of people, it includes Manchester Piccadilly) there must be scope for weekend excursions and discounted train+visit ticketing.

 

Re: Moorlands and City Railway

I was near the Leekbrook - Cauldon section all day Saturday, and got a very different impression of events from "detheridge02". I saw only a very few people on the trackside and very few cars parked irresponsibly, despite the narrowness of some of the roads. I didn't see anywhere that was impassable. There were three pinch points: the overbridges at Ipstones and Winkhill, and the crossing at Apsley, but visibility on the approaches to all three areas is pretty good, and both motorists and pedestrians appeared sensibly cautious. Indeed, the parked cars on the approaches to these places served as good warnings that something was going on, causing motorists to slow down.

As for the event itself, I have to say I was very impressed. The line is much more open than I'd expected, especially above Bradnop, with grand views from the surrounding hills. I was disappointed that the class 33 replaced 71000 after the first passenger train, but the remaining steam locos put on a great show. No, I didn't ride on the trains, but yes, I did make a donation.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

One view I have heard, is that Alton Towers is now getting to the stage where they can no longer expand their own income without some changes to the way they get folks in (i.e. people aren't happy about the congested roads).

I would guess that it means they may now be "more open" to ideas involving getting people in without cars than they have been in previous years. But I guess time will tell...

 

Re: Moorlands and City Railway

@ Cambrian55: It's a shame you didn't read the posts in this thread and the one in the Galas section, and didn't check the details on the very clear and well-put-together MCR web-site, explaining exactly what was on offer and what it would cost. I've been caught out with "spur of the moment" visits to big events, too. Preparation always pays off, I find. Several other lines run their gala events in just the same way, especially those likely to be very popular but with low advanced ticket sales, where they need to be able to cope with a large volume of ticket sales in a very short time.

For comparisson, I go to quite a few music festivals and though some offer individual event tickets as well as day or weekend passes, most do not. There's one price that gets you through the main gate and gives access to everything. £25 for a day's entertainment is pretty good value, these days.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Lineside comment on Saturday indicated that some visitors are concerned that Alton Towers is now charging for parking in addition to Alton Towers entry fee. Since people are becoming more cost-conscious there is potential for the railway to follow the Swanage Railway in offering a local park-'n-ride facility to Alton as well as becoming an attraction it its own right.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Next week on the 24th, it is advertised as steam hauled, will this be top and tailed steam, or steam out to Cauldon Lowe and diesel return?
The reason I ask is that I was unfortunate enough to pick two trains on Saturday that were top and tailed with the Crompton, so I need to do the journey again for it to count!. It is a long way from East Anglia, so I would like to be sure that I can complete the journey both ways by steam.

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

Never heard of that one before! I was unfortunate to pick a train on Sunday that was top and tailed with the west country, but it still counts :lol:. To be fair, I don't think the trips were booked to be hauled by the crompton, but due to failures it was that or nothing I think!

 

Re: Churnet Valley Railway& Moorland & City Railways Cauldon Lowe Branch re-opening G

AFAIK there weren't any loco failures on the Cauldon trains, just a water shortage at Chedelton which prevented loco's being turned round quickly enough.